Heading East toward Texas February 28, 2010

We were planning to leave Tucson on Sunday morning but we looked at the weather map and it was supposed to be raining pretty hard Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

We were pretty much ready to go after spending the whole month in Tucson, so we decided to leave in nice weather and make our way slowly to Galveston where we are scheduled to volunteer next week.

We were up before the sun came up and finished getting ready to head out.

After dumping the tanks, we left Tucson and got onto I-10.

Our first stop though is Deming NM. It is right along our route on I-10. We planned on making the 4 hour trip one day, then taking a ‘tourist day’ to see Silver City, NM. Back in the mid 1960’s, my dad took a US Forest Service assignment there. We lived in ‘Silver’ for three plus years.

For my twin brother and me, it was during grades 4, 5 and 1/2 of the 6th grade. I don’t think I have been back there since we left in Dec 1965. We plan to visit tomorrow.

We arrived in Deming about noon, just like we planned. The drive was fine and uneventful. After no driving the Roadrunner for a whole month, it felt good to hit the open road again. Man, I love driving that machine! It really goes smoothly. I usually keep it around 62 mph on the speedometer. In California, the signs state something like “55 mph for towed vehicles” so in California, I drive a little slower.

The route on I-10 from Tucson is a pretty good stretch of road. And pretty scenery. A different kind of pretty. Some would say ‘desolate’ but it is interesting. Not interesting enough to want to live out in the middle of nowhere, but interesting.

We took a few minutes and saw that new friends Jerry & Jenny were still in the Escapees campground where we are staying. We just met them in Tucson at the Agave Gulch campground at Davis-Monthan AFB. We went over and said ‘hi’ and ‘goodbye’ for a few minutes.

Then we took off for Columbus, NM and Palomas, Mexico. They are border towns and about 32 miles from Deming. When we lived in Silver City a long time ago, we made a couple of trips to the Palomas stores. Cigarettes and liquor were cheaper across the border back then too.

This is the third border Mexican town we have seen since we started full-timing in May 2009. We have been to Nuevo Progresso and Algodones Mexico. All had striking similarities but Palomos is definitely the smallest and most impoverished. And it does not have as many stores and shops as the other two.

We though it was really pretty empty for a Saturday afternoon.

We did a little shopping at the Pink Store and went back through Customs before we walked to the car.

On the way back to Deming we stopped by Pancho Villa State Park. It has a number of nice looking RV campsites. It also has a lot of history associated with it.

Francisco ‘Pancho’ Villa led a raid into US territory at Columbus in 1916. 18 Americans died and Gen John J. Pershing was dispatched by President Woodrow Wilson along with 10,000 troops to bring Pancho Villa to justice. He escaped into Mexico and was never caught.

We went back to the Escapees Rainbow Park in Deming and spent the rest of the evening reading and watching the Olympics.

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles today.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Friday at the Tucson Rodeo February 26, 2010

First – a BIG hello! and Welcome to new Followers:

Ken and Nanette!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Yesterday was a fun day – In the afternoon we went to the biggest rodeos I have ever seen: The Tucson Rodeo aka La Fiesta de los Vaqueros. It started in 1925 in the middle of Prohibition and in its 85th year, now is one of the top professional rodeo events in North America with over $200,000 in prize money.

The rodeo was advertised as 2:00 PM to 4:30 PM and we arrived about 1:30 PM. Once we got to the rodeo grounds, we bought our tickets and made our way past numerous booths to our bleacher seats.

In the arena, a tractor was still ploughing up and smoothing the ground for the competition that was about to begin.

The first event was the bareback bronco riding.

Next was the steer wrestling

Then the calf roping

And the saddle bronc riding

The announcer dubbed this calf “Toyota” because he ran away like a Toyota that had its accelerator stuck….

And the men in black hats waiting for their chance at it

And the barrel racing

The last event of the day was the bull riding. We did not have the best vantage point but we could tell that the bulls were having a good day.

But so did we! We had a great time watching one of the largest rodeos in the country.

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Hope you weekend is going well.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Tucson Rodeo Parade

Pam and I heard the rodeo was in town and that there was even a La Fiesta de los Vaqueros Rodeo Parade. We wanted to see the parade and the rodeo. The parade is one of the longest non-motorized parades in the world. Never seen one of those before.

We arrived about 45 minutes before it was supposed to start and parked about a mile away from the parade route. We found a place and joined the spectators on the sidelines.

It was a beautiful day when the banner rolled by for the start of the parade.

There were a number of school bands. In fact Tucson and area schools have Thursday and Friday off to celebrate the rodeo.

The floats and wagons rolled on by and it was like a parade out west years ago. It was neat.

With all the horses, I got used to the clip clop of their shoes on the pavement. I noticed it when a group of horses passed and did not have the familiar sound because they were shoeless.

I commented that I thought all horses had shoes.

I had never really thought about it but this is the first time I’d seen a lot that didn’t have shoes.

There were more bands.

And all kinds of wagons and carts.

It was a typical parade only there were no trucks and cars and motorized machines.

We talked with the lady next to us (Barb) and found out she had a daughter in the parade and her husband was walking along with the high school band where he teaches.

And Barb is a teacher. Quite an accomplished teacher. She teaches 3rd grade and is one of five teachers in Arizona that were honored last year as ‘Teachers of the Year’. Here is a link to a web site that tells about her: http://www.azedfoundation.org/teacher-of-the-year.php

You meet the nicest and most interesting people out here…

We watched the end of the parade and I expected to see the scooper, broom and bucket brigade. There were a lot of horses to clean up after.

Instead, the street sweepers were out in all their glory, all cleaned and polished up for the finale! It was a great day at the parade.

Thanks for joining me on the Roadrunner Chronicles today!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

My Claim to Fame February 25, 2010

First of all — let me say thanks! to all of you that posted comments on the iPhone! I appreciate your feedback on it…

There are a couple of things I am fond of saying when it comes to Pam, like, “I am the luckiest guy in the world”, and “My claim to fame is that I married her”.

Amazingly that was 31 years ago today in Fort Walton Beach Florida. We were both in the Air Force and stationed at Hurlburt Field AFB – home of the 1st Special Operations Wing. We met one Sunday afternoon at a woman’s softball game. I quickly learned she was an ace pitcher and a real female athlete. She also pitched for the Squadron Softball team.

Our first date was playing racketball. That was back in the spring of 1978. We got engaged in August and married in February. My wedding present to her was a set of golf clubs. She learned the game and enjoys it as much as I do.

Yesterday we celebrated by joining the weekly Famcamp RV group at the course. We gathered at the first tee and figured out who we could play with— and then we were off.

We ended up playing with Larry and Bruno who were two singles and real nice guys. It was a nice day with plenty of sunshine. I think it was about 70 degrees.

Bruno insisted on taking a separate picture of the ‘Anniversary Couple’…

After we played golf we went back to our new campsite. Our 21 days at the full hookup sites were up, so we had to move to the overflow parking. We will only be here in Tucson for four more days, so we went to the long term overflow area. It has more area and space at each of the campsites. Folks in this area never rotate into the full hookup sites.

We really like it here. We even have a few trees for some late afternoon shade.

Later in the evening, we decided to go out to Olive Garden for dinner. We don’t go there often but we always like it when we do.

We had a terrific waitress and it made our time their even more enjoyable. Pam had Beef & Tortellini and I had Seafood Portofino. Both were excellent.

Once we were back on base we decide to take a short tour of the aircraft display near the front gate of Davis-Monthan AFB. Pam worked on F-4s (like the first one shown below) while we were stationed at Kunsan AB, South Korea. Can you guess what kind of airplane is at the far, right hand corner?

The “Warrior Park” is very well done and a nice addition to reinforce Air Force tradition and history. We ran out of time before the sun went down and will have to visit it another time to see all the aircraft on display.

After that it was another typical evening of reading and watching the Olympics. I am going to miss it after it is over in a few days.

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles. And we especially enjoy all those comments– keep it up!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Apple iPhone for a Fulltime RVer? February 24, 2010

Yesterday Adam surprised us was when he called on his iPhone. I never know when he’ll call and it is always good to hear from him. He called me, then paused. Next thing I knew Pam, who was at the commissary, was on the phone. He said, “Wait!” and then Kelly was on the call also.

Our first family conference call! That was pretty cool.

There was no special occasion, just Adam showing another neat feature of the iPhone.He has had his iPhone for a couple of years and really loves it.

I am thinking about replacing my aging Blackberry and getting an iPhone.

Is it worth it?

Do any of you out there have one?

What is the best thing about it?

An Apple Store rep told me a couple of weeks ago the best way to get one is to wait until the new ones come out and then by one for $99 that is the current one and has been refurbished.

It makes sense to me because it has the same warranty as a brand new one and you know it has been tested and retested. The new ones out of the box have probably been ‘spot checked’ with a percentage of them actually checked out.

Let me know what you think. With some of the cool apps on the iPhone, I think I can forego getting a GPS. We’ll see…

That’s all I have to share today on the Roadrunner Chronicles. Thanks for viewing.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

B-52s and our RV February 23, 2010

First of all — a big welcome to a couple of our newest Followers:

Cyndi

Vera

Sam & Donna

They each have a blog, so be sure to click on their name and check them out!

Thanks again for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles!

Now to the B-52s and such…

We are here in the Sonoran Desert at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The base has the largest inventory of ‘mothballed’ airplanes in the world. It has miles and miles of old planes that have been taken out of service and sent here to the ‘boneyard’. It was established in San Antonio after WW II and moved to Davis-Monthan AFB in 1964.

You can look through the fence and see some older planes and some plane variants that are still flying. Over 4.400 airplanes in fact. There are even a few B-1 bombers. And quite a few B-52s.

I am amazed that the B-52 is still flying strong and part of our nation’s active inventory. It was supposed to have been replaced by now. It was a key part of the Cold War back when my dad retired from the Air Force in 1961. It has been around a long time. It had its first flight in 1954 and is flying strong today.

Why is that? How is that?

Partly because, the B-52s keep getting retrofitted with the latest and greatest technology and it is more cost effective to keep it flying than to decommission them all and get something new.

Another big reason they are still flying is because of maintenance. No country in the world puts as much effort and resources and emphasis on their military assets with top notch maintenance as the U.S.

My uncle Don was a career Air Force man and he used to marvel at how well the Air Force maintains their airplanes.

Which brings me to my theme for today: Maintenance on our RV, the Roadrunner.

We have a beautiful coach that is already three years old. So we need to be sure to take care of it and maintain it.

Yesterday was my day to do some interior maintenance. Our coach is filled with cherry wood throughout. It has cabinets, trim paneling, cupboards, doors, cupholders and magazine racks that are all made of cherry wood. And it needs to be cleaned and polished periodically in order to keep it looking good and to extend its life.

I used Murphy’s Oil & Soap which seems to do a nice job. It is a lot of work, so it has taken me a while to get my resolve and motivation to get it done.

It took a couple of hours but the wood looks great and I have one less thing to do on my maintenance list.

Early in the day I got up and went over to the gym and swam some laps in the indoor pool. That felt great. Later, Pam and I returned and we had a longer workout.

We did some biking, training on the ellipse machines and some running. Felt good to get the heart going again.

It was an exciting time watching the Olympics last night. Good stuff on the Ice Dancing — almost everyone had personal bests. Congratulations to the Canadian Team Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Their performance was spectacular! It was neat to watch.

That’s about it from the Roadrunner Chronicles. Thanks for viewing.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Sunday with Judy February 22, 2010

Judy invited us over to her RV park for a potluck in the afternoon. In the morning we walked to church with her and attended St. Paul’s United Methodist Church.

It was within walking distance from the Far Horizons RV Park in Tucson, where Judy stays.

We arrived at Judy’s about 10:30 A.M. and had plenty of time to walk four blocks to the church.

After church, we went over to the park again and attended a pot luck for residents and guests who were from Ohio & the Eastern States. Since Judy is from Ohio and we lived in Virginia, we fit right in.

The couple that organized it had everyone introduce themselves, stating where they were from and offering a little bit about themselves. The second couple to speak were Jim and Kathy Warner. They were from New York and we are not related. At least I don’t think we are…

Next, everyone had something to eat, then we had drawings for door prizes. We talked some more, met some friendly people and the event was over by 2:00. We went back to Judy’s place, said our goodbyes and made our way back to Agave Gulch RV Park at Davis-Monthan AFB.

We watched the last round of the World Golf Championships and then spent the rest of the evening watching the Olympics. I stayed up late and finish a murder mystery I was reading and went to bed about midnight.

We are settling in for 50 degree weather for a couple of days showers.

Hope you have a great week and thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Great Places to Visit February 21, 2010

You probably saw this one coming. Our experience has been great over the last nine months and we have found many great places to park the RV. Of the almost 40 places we have parked, most most have been fine. Some have been great! Here’s a list in no particular order:

1. Camp Pendleton, California. We stayed at the USMC campground right on the beach where we had Christmas. Our kids flew in and we got to see Meghan again, plus most of our family at Chris & Rob’s place in Del Mar.

2. Tucson, Arizona. We liked Desert Trails RV park (where we stayed in November) and are enjoying it here at Davis-Monthan AFB where we have been for almost three weeks. We love Tucson!

3. Quartzsite, Arizona. We found out what it is like to ‘dry camp’ / ‘boondock’ for almost three weeks and loved it. Even with no hookups, we really liked being out in the desert. We learned how to manage our water (showers are over rated) and it was no big deal to drive over to the dumpstation to empty our tanks.

4. South Dakota. We had a terrific time in Sioux Falls (stayed at the fairgrounds where we met John & Maryetta) and got to spend time with good friends Steve & Therressa. We also loved the Black Hills and stayed at Ellsworth AFB Famcamp.

5. Canada. It was great to seek the Bakers and explore Ontario. We liked Miller Lake and Tobermory and the Bradley Cabin. We also had a great time seeing Jeff & Tiffany Royce and their kids. Now that we know where Bayfield is, next time we will have to be sure and contact Al & Kelly.

6. Benbrook Lake, Fort Worth Texas. It was convenient to stay there and see daughter Kelly and my brother Brad & sister-in-law Sue.

7. St. Ignace KOA near Mackinaw Island. I can see why Mackinaw Island is the #1 tourist attraction in Michigan. It was a terrific place to visit.

8. Croswell, MI. We liked it because it was a cozy little town and we had a nice spot to park in front of Adam’s place for a couple of weeks.

9. Maynardville, Tennesse. How great is it when your brother-in-law carves out an RV pad so you can park on their property? I’ll tell you–really great. We have bigger plans (power, septic …who knows what else).

10. 4H Campground, Pontiac, IL – the campground was really not that great but we have such found memories there of our time with fellow NOMADS. And Pontiac is really a great little mid-western town in the mid-west. We loved it there!

11. Kirtland AFB Famcamp, Albuquerque NM. The camground was fine and we had plenty of room. It was well run and we’d go back. The real attraction is being in Albuquerque to see Reid & Amy. We had a terrific time there.

12. Fort Bliss Travel Camp, El Paso Texas. Another military campground that was nice. We’d stop there again.

13. Lake Buckhorn Resort, Kerrville, Texas. We loved the hill country of Texas. This campground was VERY nice and we were there for the RV-Dreams rally. How many RV campgrounds have a putting green 5 feet from your RV pad? Nice place.

14. Offutt AFB Famcamp, Omaha, NE. The campsites were fine and the campground was on a lake. Another place we’d try again.

15. Santa Fe, NM. We stayed at the Rodeo Grounds which isn’t much to brag about, but we love the city and had a terrific time with our Care-A-Vanner building project with Habitat for Humanity. We met some great people there and look forward to doing it again!

Most of the campgrounds we have been to are a result of convenience. Sometimes you get a campground with campsites that have the ‘it’ factor. Other times they are near where we need to be. Rarely have those two criteria come together for us. But we love our coach and we always enjoy coming back home to the Roadrunner.

I think as we get more experienced at this we made hone our skills at picking campgrounds that are not too far out of the way and that have georgeous scenery. Looking for those places is half the fun of this life-style. 🙂

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles. Thanks for your comments. We may have to give Kansas another shot :).

If you have been thinking about it and haven’t signed up to become a Follower, now is a great time to do that!

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

Places We Might Not Visit Again Anytime Soon… February 20, 2010

We didn’t do a whole lot yesterday after getting back from Scottsdale on Thursday night late. Like midnight late. For us, that is unusual. But it was well worth it and a very memorable day visiting with Carey, Wes and Diane, and Alisa and Craig.

So yesterday we read books and hung around the Roadrunner out a bit. I started putting some Murphy Oil Soap onto the inside of the coach. We have a lot of cherry wood cabinets and trim that needs to be cleaned and polished. I also started cleaning the outside of the Roadrunner with The Solution – a waterless cleaner that polishes and cleans.

Meanwhile Pam did the laundry and went to the store. But we mostly didn’t do a whole lot.

As I was perusing a blog I follow regularly, I read Nick Russell’s latest post: Ten Least Favorite Places, I thought, “we have a list of those kinds of places”–so here goes our list.

1. McConnell AFB FamCamp. This is a poor excuse for an RV campground or campsites. It has only 6 spaces on a service road that gets some traffic with no separation. There was standing water in three of the six sites and it only has 30 amp power, no hookups. The front office is co-located with the base temporary lodging and there was no parking for rigs. We had to park in the street while we registered. I have never run into a place that requires shot records–for the dog. At the time Ed (Kelly’s dog)was with us. They should close this place. WalMart would have been better and that is where we will stay next time.

2. Lake Fairfax Park. This was only the second campground for us. Our first campground after we bought the RV was in Hampton VA. Lake Fairfax Park was our second at it was high-priced ($40/night) with no sewer hookups and no water. Even though we were new to the whole experience, we knew that was a lot of money. And the park was not that well run. The folks at the desk were not very helpful and it seemed like they could be doing a lot more with the facility. Part of the friction was that the parking police were out every day. They required parking for guests 200 yards away and they made their rounds trolling and inspecting everyday. Not helping…just inspecting.

3. Kansas. We had a couple of long days driving from Wichita to Greensburg Kansas and then again from Greensburg to Albuquerque. Both driving days were overcast, cloudy and pretty dark. So I am sure we did not see the better sights in Kansas. Those stretches seemed to miss any scenic views.

Believe it or not–that is as far as Our Worst 10 list goes. I thought we would have a lot more to list–but we don’t.

We have been full-timing now for almost nine months. We have stayed at over 40 different campsites and overnight locations. Most have been fine. Some have been great. Fewer locations have been those places we want to avoid. Maybe this list will grow, but hopefully we will be able to do our research and continue to see some great places.

Thanks for viewing the Roadrunner Chronicles.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com

A Busy Day Seeing Friends in Scottsdale & Tempe February 19, 2010

Yesterday was the day to visit as many friends in the Phoenix area as we could. We were able to line up time with Carey, Wes and Diane, and Alisa and Craig.

Pam and I took a two hour drive north to Scottsdale to see Carey and started out about 8:30. He invited us for lunch at his place since we were in the vicinity. I have known Carey since the 1970’s when I was a student at Arizona State. Carey was on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ and we met each week for discipleship.He is still working with men and is now involved with a Prison Ministry.

We arrived in Scottsdale about 11:00 and made it over to his place. It was fun catching up with him and having lunch.

Carey really knows his way around the kitchen. He handled the tomatoes,

and showed me how to core and cut up a pineapple.

He had great roast beef and/or turkey sandwiches for us and we enjoyed the fruit salad followed by ice sandwiches for dessert. Yum!

Next we saw friends Diane and Wes who live in nearby Tempe. They were involved in the AWANA ministry when we met them back in 1988. We met for the first time when we stopped at the Grand Canyon on our move from San Bernardino to Albuquerque. They were there from Tempe and on a family vacation.

Later, we found out they were involved with churches in AWANA and we joined them on their advisory board for a number of years. We have kept contact with them over the years and last saw them in 2006.

Their youngest daughter Rebekah tragically died 12 years ago from an eating disorder. Since then, they have helped young girls by telling her story in the local high schools and providing access to resources. Here is her web site.

We spent the whole afternoon catching up and hearing about their lives in recent years.

They are working through a number of things and it was our privilege to hear of their faith as they move ahead. They are a real inspiration to us.

We had contacted Craig and Alisa and were able to see them later for dinner in Scottsdale. They have lived in the area since we were all students at ASU.

Craig has had his own company for years and is doing double duty working on a couple of projects that require lots of hours.

They have three grown kids, two of whom are married. Alisa went back to the classroom about 10 years ago and is a 3rd grade teacher. Criag’s brother Jeff was visiting so we got to meet him.

Alisa had a very nice dinner of roast beef and potatoes and green beans.

She topped it off with grapefruit cake.

She picked the grapefruit off a tree in their yard and it turned out great! First time for that dessert– very tasty. Before we left we got a group shot.

We have said many times one of the best things about the full-time RV lifestyle is being able to reconnect with friends and family who are spread all over the country. Yesterday was a prime example of that. It was a long but wonderful day to see everbody.

Meghan Update – she continues to finish up her radiation and meets with her doctor on Feb 23 to see what the next round of treatment entails. Please continue to pray for her healing and remembering her and her family. They really appreciate it. Especially your prayers. Keep them up!

Thanks for joining us on the Roadrunner Chronicles! Hope you are having a good week.

Randy Warner has posted an update to
http://www.warnerrvnews.blogspot.com